Black TV ad: Boyd partnered with’anti-hunting extremist’ group

Where does Randy Boyd stand on hunting and guns? Randy Boyd hired his lobbyist from an anti hunting organization. Randy Boyd’s firm gave big money to the lobbying group that would make hunting illegal.

The NRA called them an anti- hunting, extremist organization. But Randy Boyd called them “partner”.

Read about Randy Boyd’s anti-hunting partner on the NRA website and vote for the only candidate for Governor endorsed by the NRA. Diane Black.

Black’s campaign cites what it says is a licensing agreement with the Humane Society of the United States that allowed Boyd’s company (Radio Systems) in the late 1990s to print the animal rights organization’s name on company pet products.

The animal rights group later bowed out, citing pressure from members, according to a 2000 article in Whole Dog Journal, supplied by the Black campaign.

Black’s campaign also cites a 2011 Radio Systems news release about the hiring of a former Humane Society of the United States lobbyist to work for the company as its director of animal welfare studies and education.

If you go to the NRA’s Hunter Leadership Forum website as directed by the ad, you can find several blog posts attacking the Humane Society, like the headline shared on screen: “HSUS or PETA: Which Anti-Hunting Extremist Organization is Worse?”

…That blog post, which is from July 2016, says that HSUS is trying to ban hunting because it supports: “Meatless Mondays”; vegan diets; cage-free eggs; removing elephants from circuses; and ending orca shows at Sea World. The post also criticizes HSUS for fighting against puppy mills, stating: “HSUS may promote adopting pets from animal shelters, but it maintains a position — like PETA — that pets are nothing more than slaves of human beings. HSUS seeks the extinction of all domestic animal species in step with PETA.”

Like most of the posts attacking the Humane Society, the piece is sourced from the website HumaneWatch.org — a created by conservative D.C. lobbyist Rick Berman, who has also fought against climate change regulations, smoking bans, unions and even Mothers Against Drunk Driving. (In a 2007 piece, 60 Minutes dubbed him “Dr. Evil.”) Berman also lobbies on behalf of restaurants and agricultural companies, and they in part fund the site.

The Humane Society has been involved in getting two controversial bills killed in the Tennessee legislature in recent years — a 2017 bill that would have prevented cities from regulating puppy mills, and 2013’s “ag-gag” bill, which was vetoed by Gov. Bill Haslam. Black’s campaign did not respond when asked if she would support either piece of legislation if resurrected.